Airlines toast Midland-to-Denver flights

Published 6:00 pm, Wednesday, January 6, 2010

A spokeswoman for United Express-SkyWest Airlines said Thursday her company expects a January-February slowdown in its new Denver flights but will have a resurgence in the spring and summer.

When asked if a third daily flight might be added later this year, SkyWest Marketing Manager Brandi Honey of St. George, Utah, said the firm for the time being will continue its two daily liftoffs from Midland International Airport at 8:22 a.m. and 3:50 p.m. and its return trips at 12:34 p.m. and 7:18 p.m.

SkyWest Regional Performance Manager Julie Agapinan of John Wayne Airport at Santa Ana, Calif., who said she had been working here for the past two weeks, and Honey took part in a 2:30 p.m. ceremony officially to inaugurate the Denver flights that began on Dec. 17.

They said most of their 50-passenger Bombardier Canadair CRJ-200 jets have either been full or past the 70-percent full breakeven point since then. SkyWest has 500 staff members at its St. George headquarters among a total of 8,599 fulltime employees and it flies 291 aircraft throughout North America, the officials said.

They said the world's largest independently owned regional airline carried 20.9 million passengers last year from 65 airports in 41 states, six Canadian provinces and three cities in Mexico. Its primary hubs are Chicago, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Portland, San Francisco, Salt Lake City and Denver.

Recognizing the 50 Midlanders and Odessans who gathered Wednesday at the local airport's Gate 5-A, Honey said she was impressed "with the warm welcome" she had received.

Joining Chamber of Commerce Manager Rob Cunningham, the Chamber's M Squad and members of the Airport Planning & Development Board, Mayor Wes Perry credited Airport Director Marv Esterly for working with officials of both cities to secure the service to Colorado, California, Asia and a multitude of other destinations.

"It doesn't happen in Midland without a consortium of people helping," said Perry, adding he was about to take United Express-SkyWest for the first leg of a California skiing vacation. "We don't need to get out of Midland so much as we need to get business folks into Midland."